Parliament adopts amending budget 2026 raising EU payments by eight billion euros

The European Parliament has definitively adopted Amending Budget No 2/2026 of the European Union, closing the budgetary procedure opened under Article 314 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The definitive adoption act, (EU, Euratom) 2026/2254, was signed at Strasbourg on 15 September 2026 by Parliament’s President R. Metsola and published in the Official Journal of the European Union, L series, of 4 November 2026. Its sole article declares the Article 314 procedure complete and the amending budget definitively adopted.

The draft was tabled by the European Commission on 9 June 2026. The Council adopted its position on 4 September 2026 and forwarded it to Parliament the same day, and Parliament approved that position on 15 September 2026 under Rules 96 and 98 of its Rules of Procedure. The act rests on Council Decision (EU, Euratom) 2020/2053 on the system of own resources, Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget (Article 43), Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 laying down the multiannual financial framework for 2021-2027, and the Interinstitutional Agreement of 16 December 2020.

It amends the annual budget definitively adopted on 26 November 2025. Commitment appropriations move from EUR 187 358 563 855 to EUR 187 802 728 855 (an increase of EUR 444 165 000) and payment appropriations from EUR 184 682 047 967 to EUR 192 686 212 967, an increase of EUR 8 004 165 000. On the revenue side, own resources rise by EUR 7 362 875 927 to EUR 191 823 088 671, equal to 0,99 % of the Union’s gross national income, well below the 2,00 % own-resources ceiling set by Decision 2020/2053.

Cohesion, social fund and farming take the extra payments

• Regional development and cohesion (Title 05): payments up EUR 3 966 400 000 to EUR 46 827 681 069, with commitments unchanged; the European Regional Development Fund gains EUR 3 376 800 000 (to EUR 38 362 221 273) and the Cohesion Fund EUR 589 600 000 (to EUR 8 410 286 176).
• Investing in people, social cohesion and values (Title 07): payments up EUR 1 393 600 000 to EUR 22 513 635 336, entirely through the operational strand of the European Social Fund Plus (item 07 02 01); commitments unchanged.
• Agriculture and maritime policy (Title 08): payments up EUR 2 640 000 000 to EUR 52 956 444 888 and commitments up EUR 440 000 000 to EUR 54 664 948 341, both carried by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund.
• Recovery and resilience (Title 06) gains EUR 1 000 000 in both commitments and payments, to EUR 9 205 085 266 and EUR 9 184 230 761; administrative expenditure of the European Commission (Title 20) rises EUR 3 165 000 to EUR 4 594 914 035.
• Environment and climate action (Title 09) gains EUR 1 537 273 in commitments and payments, fully offset by an identical cut in the reserves of Title 30, which fall to EUR 2 546 262 731 in commitments and EUR 1 955 725 949 in payments.
• Titles 01, 02, 03, 04, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 21 are left untouched.

Own resources shift towards customs duties and national contributions

• Customs duties and other duties (Chapter 1 2) jump from EUR 21 368 300 000 to EUR 24 350 200 000 (+EUR 2 981 900 000), the largest single increase, with Italy up EUR 385 500 000, the Netherlands EUR 269 200 000, Poland EUR 259 500 000 and Spain EUR 254 300 000; Slovakia is the only Member State recording a cut (–EUR 71 900 000).
• The VAT-based resource (Chapter 1 3) rises EUR 328 831 650 to EUR 25 086 273 600 at the unchanged 0,30 % uniform rate.
• The GNI-based resource (Chapter 1 4), the balancing item, rises EUR 4 364 956 037 to EUR 135 872 896 111 at a call rate of 0,6984 %; Germany contributes EUR 1 210 340 513 more (EUR 33 352 554 956), France EUR 394 152 340 more (EUR 21 706 071 811).
• The plastic packaging waste resource (Chapter 1 7) falls EUR 312 811 760 to EUR 6 513 718 960.
• The gross GNI lump-sum reductions for Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Sweden total EUR 9 448 020 010 in the financing tables, with Germany at –EUR 4 561 841 570 and the Netherlands at –EUR 2 387 169 070.

Fines and the United Kingdom contribution

• Competition fines (Article 420) are revised from EUR 100 000 000 to EUR 955 327 953, an increase of EUR 855 327 953; penalty payments and lump sums imposed on a Member State (Article 421) are budgeted at EUR 268 063 119.
• Interest connected with fines and penalty payments (Article 424) rises from EUR 1 000 000 to EUR 98 536 784, so Chapter 4 2 totals EUR 1 300 078 110 and Title 4 as a whole EUR 1 377 224 582.
• The United Kingdom’s net contributions under Article 148 of the withdrawal agreement (Article 6602) fall EUR 557 789 037 to EUR 150 718 626, cutting Chapter 6 6 to EUR 200 718 626.
• Revenue under Titles 2 to 6 totals EUR 6 272 631 996, 8,31 % less than in 2025.

For readers, the practical effect is a budget that spends EUR 192.7 billion in payments this year, with the additional EUR 8 billion flowing to regional programmes, the social fund and farm aid, paid for by heavier customs receipts and a GNI call that rises 33,89 % on 2025. Because own resources remain at 0,99 % of GNI, the Union keeps room under its 2,00 % ceiling, and the amendment only touches national treasuries through the recalculated contributions rather than through new programmes.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, L series, No 2026/2254, 4 November 2026, p. 1/112 (official reference: (EU, Euratom) 2026/2254).